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G'Day Someone said to me one Sunday morning "it would be good if you write a good holiday story"

Well, my intension was to write a holiday story but I became very sick on the way over, (more later) and thought it was too much trouble to keep a daily diary as I was not well enough at the time (I normally keep a daily diary of the days events, making it much easier to write once I return home) So I will now have to rely on my memory.

Leanne and I live in Mandurah Western Australia. The distance from Mandurah, to Brundall is 14,407km in a straight line (ask google) it normally takes around 28 hours travel time, from when we leave home until we arrive in Brundall, but oh no not this time (more later)

This is our 8th trip to the broads, and possibly our last. Our boat for 2 weeks is Silver Simoom, and this is the 3rd time we have hired this boat. We are a big fan of Silverline, and Simoom has so many features. It is a fantastic boat.(the features help as I have to moor up single handed)

Thursday 7th July The day we start our journey We leave home at 6.30pm local time (11.30am UK time) for Perth airport

Our flight departs at 10.10pm to Dubai then on to Heathrow. On our flight between Dubai, and Heathrow I loose my reading glasses down the side of the chair, plus I take a turn for the worse not feeling well. We did retrieve the glasses, however both lenses were scratched, and the frame twisted, but still useable for the balance of the holiday. We arrive at Heathrow at 1.30pm Friday afternoon, we collect our hire car after some delay at 4pm. I had my own mud map to get out of heathrow, but the car hire yard gave me differant directions, which I should have ignored as it took me 30 minutes to finally get on to the M4 leading to the M25, but guess what, 4.45pm on a Friday afternoon, the M4 & M25 were at a standstill, finally we get going, at around 6pm my illness starts to get worse, we had to have a few emergency stops, we kept going, we came to some service's (don't know where) but I know we were still 63 miles from Norwich, and I could go no further, Leanne asked to use the phone to call our B&B for the night, to let them know we had been seriously delayed, the time now is 7pm, and I thought we should have been att the B&B by now, and how could we get hold of a doctor, everyone in the petrol station heard the conversation, Leanne came back to the car with a good samaritan (no not a doctor) but someone who said your are around 10 miles from Cambridge Hospital, if you follow me I will take you there. I was so sick I did not ask the guys name, just gratefull someone coud help. We arrive at the hospital at 8pm Friday night, after treatment, we left just after 11pm, back to the A11, on the way to the A14 there is a sign saying A11 closed after the A14, oh no more delays, on the A14 we pull over and consult our 2003 road atlas, (I know the way with out diversions) I see athe A14 goes to Bury St Edmonds, so off we go, we then look for the A134 to take us back to the A11 at Thetford, beauty, we areback on track, Leanne asks what time do you think we will arrive at the B&B, dont know I replied, maybe around half past midnight. Finally we arrive in Strumpshaw at a quarter to 1 Saturday morning, but this eventfull trip has yet another turn!!!

We cannot find the B&B in the darkness

We search a few more roads to no avail, the time now is 1.15am Leanne states we have 2 options, pull over and sleep in the car, or find somewhere else. At 1.30am we check into the Premier inn in Thorpe, happy to have a bed for a few hours.

Hi David, My son hired a houseboat (not like a UK job, but a twin hulled luxury cat) from Kingston-on-Murray. He had a great holiday. Not so far for him in Melbourne but not more than 3000 Ks for you. Better than half way round the world.

Hi David, My son hired a houseboat (not like a UK job, but a twin hulled luxury cat) from Kingston-on-Murray. He had a great holiday. Not so far for him in Melbourne but not more than 3000 Ks for you. Better than half way round the world.

Saturday 9th 7.30am we are up & having breakfast. 8.30am off to Sainsburys to do the shopping.

By prior arrangement with Lesley from Silverline, we are allowed to drop off our luggage, and shopping early so we can return the hire car, then its back to the boatyard to wait for our boat. We are having lunch on the verandah of Silverline's office, and it starts to rain, Colin walks around to advise the boat is ready, and we can load up, in the rain, but never mind we are on the boat, after a quick handover from Colin we are under way.

With having very little sleep over the past 48 hours we head out of Brundall towards the Surlingham Ferry, to try and find a mooring where we can just pull over and catch up on a few zzzz's, we find one ok, we head off to the cabins to try to sleep. As I am resting I hear the constant sound of engines going past, and their wash gently lapping against the boat, then the Brundall navy start to go past, you can hear the deep rumble of their large diesel engines, and a larger wash rocks the boat, after 90 minutes, I go to check with Leanne to see if she has had any sleep, also no luck, so we decide to take off and go to the Surlingham Ferry where we had reserved a mooring, and table for the evening.

The new quay heading is great

The weather had changed for the better, the rain had stopped, the clouds were clearing, and the sun came out, time to put on the shorts. Yes it was warm enough even for a short time.

We have cruised past this pub many times, and never called in, I think the look of the old moorings put me off, but not any more. It's beer o'clock and off to get a pint for me, and a Tia maria for Leanne. Back on the boat with the drinks, I had to go to the toilet, and while there catastrophe struck!!!!!

Leanne had knocked over my drink, you can't spill an Aussies beer that's sacrilege, but guess who was at fault? somehow it was my fault, never mind, back to the pub for another.